Tuesday, March 08, 2005

The Time for Waiting is Over

Remember all those little minor injuries you’ve had to deal with over the past few months? You know - the sore knees, the strained elbows, and the jammed fingers? Well, now is the time to cash in on all those games you missed out on. One of the biggest mistakes you can make in fantasy basketball is to not use all of your available games. If you end up 3 rebounds out of first place at the end of the year, but you’ve got 2 games available from your center position, well, you won’t get any sympathy from me.

Now, in an ideal world, if you’ve got 5 games to spare from a position, you wait … wait … and then over the last two weeks, do a flurry of lineup shuffling, and all of a sudden you vault up the standings into first place thanks to all the games you play over the last 2 weeks. It’s like a last-minute sneak attack. The problem is, it doesn’t always work out as well as you planned. Over the last couple weeks, players will sit out games unannounced, minutes start getting crazy as the second stringers might see a lot more time, and it’s generally impossible to predict who’s going to do well on a given night, unless their team in a battle for a playoff spot.

So rather than wait until the end of the season to take advantage of those games, you’re better off making your move now, while playing time is still relatively predictable, but there’s also a decent amount of ticky-tack injuries that are opening up opportunities for players who are likely on your waiver wire. Earlier in the year, it wasn’t recommended to pick up a guy who might only have one or two decent games, but now things have changed. So now, it’s probably worth starting a guy like Rasho Nesterovic for a game while Tim Duncan is out, even if you have to drop one of your bench players to make it happen. A rotating bench spot can be pretty advantageous at this point in the year.

Are Things Clearing Up in Memphis?

Ha, of course they’re not! But if Mike Miller misses any time after getting banged up at the end of last night’s game, they could. Bonzi Wells has already been placed on the IL, and if Miller sits as well, that means both Shane Battier and James Posey become instant starters for your fantasy team. Battier is likely owned in almost all leagues at this point, but Posey should be available in most leagues. Remember, Posey was one of this year’s biggest question marks after he exploded in the second half of last year for 17 points, 5.9 boards, 1.4 3’s and 1.9 steals. Well, this year he hasn’t nearly lived up to those numbers. But with a possible injury opening things up for him, Posey could have another strong finish to the year.